Watching Benny Blanco try Jollibee for the first time was comparable to sitting on a plane and having a small child kick your seat for the entire trip.
Blanco is a music producer who has worked with artists like BTS, Snoop Dog, Halsey, Ke$ha and Maroon 5. Notably, he is Selena Gomez’s newest boyfriend.
In February, Blanco posted a video that was barraged with negative comments.
The video was captioned, “my first time trying jollibee.”
Jollibee is a Filipino fast food restaurant that has chains in both the U.S. and the Philippines. Though it’s mainly known for its chicken and gravy, Jollibee serves a variety of Filipino staples including adobo, Filipino spaghetti, palabok and even an ube hand pie.
The restaurant is a cultural staple for many Filipinos.
In the video, Blanco prefaces his review of the food with the fact that his stepmother is Filipino, therefore he has had really good Filipino food before.
He proceeds to be highly critical of the food without adding any substance to his critique.
The comments he makes are juvenile at best, stating that the adobo rice “tastes like butt.”
His comments about the spaghetti weren’t much better. As soon as he opened the container, he said, “This shit smells like fucking vomit.”
What Blanco said was disrespectful, but, as the old adage goes “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
What did hurt me was what Blanco did after trying the spaghetti.
As soon as he took a bite, he paused the camera, moved to get a better angle and then started the video again so that he could get a good shot of him spitting the food back into the original container.
I do not know how Blanco was raised, but I know for a fact my Filipino mother would have called me a disrespectful, ungrateful child for wasting food like that.
The highlight of the video was the comments. The top comment was left by @kristiiinaaaa15 and read, “benny your literal review about Jollibee is my literal review of you” with a single tear crying emoji.
My personal favorite comment was from @bronniesmom and simply states, “selena, run.”
Now some may argue that Blanco was brave for stating his opinion so honestly. Because Jollibee is such a well loved brand, Blanco’s opinion goes against the grain and challenges normality.
I would argue if Blanco is “brave” for this video that he posted, then every single picky child in the world is also “brave.”
Frankly, I found Blanco’s reaction to the food childish.
As kids, my brother and I went to the Philippines with our mother. My brother was five years old and I was nine. It is also important to note that both my brother and I are autistic and severely picky eaters.
Not once did we spit out the food that was given to us because even at our young age, we understood that that was disrespectful and rude.
Even when my family went to Jollibee’s in the Philippines and I was served a hamburger that was just meat and mayonnaise (which I can not stand) I took a few bites.
If two autistic children can understand how disrespectful it is to spit out food that is culturally important, I do not understand why a fully grown man cannot.
What Benny Blanco did was childish and overdramatic and I firmly believe that people are valid to be upset by it.
Yes, Blanco can have his opinions about the food, that is not what people are mad about. People are mad about the way he acted.
Disliking cultural foods is completely fine, but choosing to act childish and overdramatic about it is not appreciated.
Do not let the backlash Blanco faced when trying Jollibee scare you from trying new foods. Just be respectful and if you dislike something, dislike it with grace.
